The 21st century has been marked with tremendous growth of the management knowledge and research. The art of management has attracted the attention of the business organisations for increasing organisational effectiveness. A galaxy of management thinkers have advocated various techniques and methods of managing for increasing efficiency. These thinkers come from the streams of political science, economics, sociology, psychology and the business itself. The wide range of contributions are of immense help not only to business organisations but also to the other organisations as well. But a collection of works of these thinkers is rare. In the back drop of the above, the book entitled Life and Works of Management Thinkers authored by Dr. Navin Mathur is timely. The book describes biographical sketches of 14 prominent management thinkers. It gives detailed information of books, articles, monographics, films etc., of management thinkers. The innovative spirit of Dr. Mathur in bringing out the book with the help information supplied to him personally by the thinkers is unique and authentic. The information contained in the book is apt. The expressive style of language is lucid and effective. The book is of great help to students, professionals, researchers and libraries.

INDIAN MANAGEMNT
All India Management Association

BOMBAY

There is an acute need for a greater amount of authentic literature and reference books on Indian advertising, marketing and consumer research. I am sure the practitioners and students of advertising and marketing in India will find Mr. Mathur’s work Advertising and Consumer Reaction in India immensely useful.

AVINASH JAIN
President
Advertising Agencies Association of India

June 30, 1986, NEW DELHI

The (Ph.D) thesis (later published and titled as PRESS ADEVERTISING) under review is a sincere attempt at a psychological analysis of advertisements employing a scientific research methodology. The work, if published in the form of a book, is expected to be an useful reference material for future researches. It is on this count that publication subsidy has been recommended for this thesis ... A questionnaire has been suitably developed to obtain the responses of the consumers on seven psychological values (Attention, Suggestion, Memorising, Sentimental, Educative, Conviction and Instinct) with reference to the advertisement of each of the eight chosen brands of tooth paste. The researcher has demonstrated his orientation of research methodology. The conclusions drawn are objective as well as plausible. Useful suggestions have been offered to make the advertisements more effective. The format of the thesis is in order. The literary presentation is satisfactory. As already stated, this work is a welcome attempt at the much needed psychological analysis of advertisements employing a scientific research methodology. If brought in print, this work is expected to be an useful reference material which should prompt and promote further research. I have therefore the pleasure of recommending the award of publication subsidy for this work.

CONSULTANT To
Indian Council of Social Science Research

October 1, 2001, Jaipur

The book ‘Mighty Management Minds of India’ by Navin Mathur is a compilation of managerial concepts of eighteen great management minds of India, which can be successfully applied by Indian managers. The volume contains management procedures as told by Lord Krishna, Chanakya, Mahatma Gandhi, JRD Tata, GD Birla, Ram Krishna Bajaj, Ratan Tata, Dhirubhai Ambani and many others... The book can be said to be a treasure of managerial concepts. The book covers every discipline on the aspects of life and views of all time greats on subjects like trusteeship, labour and capital, time management, human values, organizational behavior, work culture, leadership, and deserves attention of management practitioners, entrepreneurs, teachers and students of management.

THE TIMES OF INDIA
EDUCATION PLUS

March, 2002, NEW DELHI

Don’t judge a book by its cover. You’d pick up Mighty Management ... only if you were a steadfast believer in the age-old saying. And once you have picked it up (assuming you aren’t too finicky about layout, fonts etc. and head straight for the written word) you’ll realise that more than anything else, the book ends up whetting your appetite for some detailed reading on India’s management stalwarts - some well-known, some not. Starting with Lord Krishna, the book enlists the management concepts propounded by 18 of the finest brains in India, including Chanakya, Charat Ram, Mahatma Gandhi, Ramakrishna Bajaj, S. L. Kirloskar, Ratan Tata, Dhirubhai Ambani, T. Thomas and Prakash Tandon. The underlying effort throughout has been to develop a management philosophy that is appropriate to India’s socio-cultural environment, by taking cues from the Japanese, French, US ... systems. ... all you need to do is take a look at the management principles discussed in this book to realise that even decades (and sometimes centuries) later, the theories are relevant. ... Navin Mathur’s compilation gives you the gist of the matter, for more, you’ll have to go ahead and scout around bookstores.

MANAGEMENT COMPASS

July-December, 2003, Kolkata

Dr. Navin Mathur’s book Mighty Management Minds of India may be considered as an honest attempt to highlight the contributions of some of the great minds of India to the field of management . . . The inclusion of Lord Krishana, Chanakya, Mahatma Gandhi and lastly, S.K.Chakraborty, has given the volume a different look, deviating from mainstream management books. Over the last two decades or so, a new body of management literature has been growing in India. As its main objective is to explore valuable discourses from the wisdom literature of India and integrate them into modern management thinking, it can be identified as the wisdom management literature of India. The inclusion of Lord Krishna in the present volume may be considered as the author’s sincere attempt to contribute to this emerging literature. Chanakya’s inclusion is also highly commendable because mainstream literature on organization and management is not even a century old, if considered from Taylor-Fayol-Weber. And the focus is on organizational management. Since organizations are as old as civilizations, the history of management thoughts tends to cover the period of the history of organizations. Thus, mainstream management literature has also recognized Chanakya as the first management or administrative thinker of India. Similar is the case with Mahatma Gandhi, particularly his spiritual guidance for material activities. That trusteeship offers spiritual guidance for material activities is evident from Dr. Mathur’s comment that Gandhi believed in an old saying : ‘The only way to be happy is to invite others to partake of your happiness’ (p. 28). His quote from Gandhi (without reference) that ‘A leader is the greatest servant’ (p. 31) is another example of spiritual guidance for effective organizational management. And S.K.Chakraborty is possibly the first management thinker who has developed a comprehensive model for holistic managerial effectiveness integrating managerial skills with human values based on Indian insights. ... It is nice to see that the book starts with quoting Swami Vivekananda as a source of inspiration for everything Indian (p.viii). But one may equally wonder at seeing no chapter devoted to Swami Vivekananda, one of the greatest management minds of India. However, there is a consolation in the author’s confession: ‘while the book covers as many as eighteen mighty management minds of India, this doesn’t undermine or limit the contributions made by other Indian experts on management. The author’s quest for Indian literature on management continues’ (p. ix). One can therefore reasonably expect that a chapter on Swami Vivekananda will be included in the revised version of the present volume or in the next volume in sequence.